The Latest Movies (Non-Anime) You Are Watching Right Now

[greg]

Ha! That sounds great! Ilj, do you ever watch RedLetterMedia's "Best of the Worst" show? They do about one a month, and they watch some pretty obscure, cheesy 80s movies. Quite often they do find some really interesting movies.

Last night I stayed up to watch Donnie Darko. I hadn't seen that movie in a while, so I stuck it in my laptop and watched it in bed. It's one of those movies that if you find out somebody's watched it, you can tell that they are an interesting person. My sister would even judge people to a small extent by whether or not they have seen the movie. I recently played "Under the Milky Way" by The Church for my JHS 3rd grade students because it illustrates noun clauses ("what you are looking for/what you would find"). The kids liked the song because it was easy to sing. The Japanese English teachers I work with usually pick out the stupidest songs for kids to sing, and most of the time the songs are too fast, complex, and furthermore not tied to the target grammar they are currently studying.

So anyhow, I was discussing the song, and remembered that this song was featured in Donnie Darko. I explained the movie's premise: a high school boy escapes death when a jet engine mysteriously falls out of the sky and crashes into his bedroom as he is visited by a tall, creepy-looking rabbit. The rabbit begins to tell him the secrets of time travel, and while everyone thinks Donnie is becoming a paranoid schizophrenic delusional, he begins unlocking the mysteries of wormholes and timeslips.

Richard Kelly also did a movie called The Box, which, to the best of my memory, was also a very intriguing movie. Wikipedia mentions that he is the producer for a movie adaptation of Robert Cormier's book Fade, but I wonder what has happened of that project? I used to read Robert Cormier books in junior high and high school, beginning with The Chocolate War. I went through a rather existentialist phase during adolescence, so that must be why such stories and movies still click with me well.

[llj]

I'm usually not able to watch online videos or streams too well at home because of my crappy computer, so I'd probably only be able to catch it once every few months. I do have a great cult movie rental store nearby, though, which is how I watch most of the obscure stuff.

I have seen Donnie Darko. But, if I may challenge your premise that only interesting people have seen Donnie Darko, I would suggest that there's a good percentage of people who came upon it mostly through friends and word of mouth. There was a time a few years ago when having seen Donnie Darko was the "cool" thing to do, so I would imagine that there are a lot of bandwagoner fans too, and I don't think you'd consider them interesting.

[greg]

Yes, I was probably one of those bandwagoners myself. I hadn't heard of the movie until my sister introduced me to it. I guess it may have been a "cool thing to do" but I wasn't a part of that 20-something age group at the time, and was ignorant that it was trendy. It's one of those movies that y.ou can have interesting conversations about, I think.

So last night I watched Escape from L.A. I hadn't seen either movie until just recently. Escape from L.A. Is basically the same premise and story as Escape from New York: Snake is duped into doing the dirtywork of the President, goes on a rescue mission (to rescue the President in the first movie and to rescue a black box in the second), gets captured and has to win a tournament to stay alive, narrowly escapes, and ends up double crossing the President with a switcheroo in order to humiliate him. While it wasn't a very great movie, I fail to see why Escape from L.A. bombed so much and people don't like it. If you liked the first movie, the sequel delivers more of the same. That's more than you can expect these days. While I expected to see more of Bruce Campbell in the movie and thought it was silly how grossly exaggerated the effects of EMP on electronics was, it was a fun movie, since it was basically more of the same as the first movie. I didn't have high expectations for either movie, so they were both enjoyable.

[_D_]

I know this I supposed to be what are you watching (from Japan) but I couldn't let the new TV season from the US just slide by, so go here to check what is upcoming:

http://www.tv.com/news/2014-tv-premiere ... 734425118/

For myself, I hardly watch anything from Japan anymore. There is just too little appeal. But I don't watch a lot of stuff from over here either. Too much else on the go I suppose...

[_D_]

Heading out for a second run of the Hobbit The Deolation of Smaug. This time in 3D as the last time I went with friends who wanted to see it in 2D. The film was shot entirely in 3D though.

Saw 47 Ronin. It was grand in some parts and merely okay in others.

Lota new stuff upcoming though...

[llj]

Wolf of Wall Street. Whatever you want to say about this film, you can't say that it's boring. It gets a little repetitive in the middle as the excess greed/drugs/corruption reaches its saturation point, but there's always a line or a funny moment to keep you entertained. DiCaprio, I felt, finally had a lead part in a Scorsese film that he truly "fit"...in the past, there was always something "off" about him in previous Scorsese leads. But the boyish asshole role of Belfort is tailor made for DiCaprio. The only part of his casting that makes you go "huh" here is when an FBI agent calls him "little man"--a clear shot at the real-life Jordan Belfort's height (Belfort was considered short). DiCaprio is 6'0.

[Boite Diabolique]

“Trollhunter”. For a found footage movie, this pretty damn good and much more believable and entertaining than most in the genre. There was one sequence which looked way too CG for its own good, but the rest of the effects came off quite well. Both the tired and old hunter and the film students came off as natural and little seemed forced or rehearsed. A couple of the camera shots seems really set up which take you out of documentary style. Using the clip of the Norwegian prime minister at the end was clever.

“An American Werewolf in London”. Had not seen this for maybe two decades or more. The film has aged a bit and the dialogue is a bit silly at times (those stupid bumbling British police officers were terrible), but the strength of the story shines through. And god, how black is the humour? Black as the darkest night. The scene that got me was the one where David’s victims are attempting to convince him to commit suicide (in a very polite British way) while inside a porn theatre in Piccadilly. The effects are still amazing. No wonder Rick Baker won an Academy award. I noticed a pre-The Young Ones Rik Mayall in the pub sequences as well which amused me.

[danth]

Wolf of Wall Street. Whatever you want to say about this film, you can't say that it's boring. It gets a little repetitive in the middle as the excess greed/drugs/corruption reaches its saturation point, but there's always a line or a funny moment to keep you entertained. DiCaprio, I felt, finally had a lead part in a Scorsese film that he truly "fit"...in the past, there was always something "off" about him in previous Scorsese leads. But the boyish asshole role of Belfort is tailor made for DiCaprio. The only part of his casting that makes you go "huh" here is when an FBI agent calls him "little man"--a clear shot at the real-life Jordan Belfort's height (Belfort was considered short). DiCaprio is 6'0.

I loved every minute of that movie. I was enthralled until the very last scene. I very rarely enjoy movies that much.

[yusaku]

i have been watching a lot of tv classics lately. I been watching the old Star Trek, the Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and a few old films. Also I have been having a urge mostly for 90's tv series. I have been watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hercules, Xena, Sliders, Quantum Leap, Farscape, Star Trek the Next Generation, etc. I do not know about you guys but, I think the 90's were the most kick ass years in recent history. A lot of anime and alot of entertaining tv shows.

[llj]

i have been watching a lot of tv classics lately. I been watching the old Star Trek, the Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and a few old films. Also I have been having a urge mostly for 90's tv series. I have been watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hercules, Xena, Sliders, Quantum Leap, Farscape, Star Trek the Next Generation, etc. I do not know about you guys but, I think the 90's were the most kick ass years in recent history. A lot of anime and alot of entertaining tv shows.

I don't have as much time to marathon TV shows anymore. I have a hard enough time trying to keep up to date with Mad Men.

People say that TV shows are better written these days than movies, and probably that's true, but sometimes you just want a nice, self comtained 2 hour punch per viewing.